


Tommy Knows: "The Huntress Returns"

by ThomE_Gemcity_06



Series: Eloquence of a Secret [17]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon-divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s1e17 - “The Huntress Returns", Family Drama, Felicity!Whump, Friendship, Gen, Non-canon Character Death, Secrets, Tommy Knows!, Tommy!Whump, casework, relationship drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 02:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11281770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThomE_Gemcity_06/pseuds/ThomE_Gemcity_06
Summary: Helena returns and does something unforgivable; Tommy takes matters into his own hands so Oliver doesn't have to. Will both be able to cope with the consequence?





	Tommy Knows: "The Huntress Returns"

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, its episodes or its characters.  
> Tag: Season 1, Episode 17 - "The Huntress Returns"

COVER ART By: LaDemonessa

 

* * *

**aRRoW**

"This can't be good," Oliver said, coming through the alley entrance to see the rest of Team Hood already present and gathered around the computer hub. "I got a text from Dig saying there was something that I should see. I didn't expect the three of you. And you," he nodded at Tommy, "Shouldn't you be doing general manager things? Verdant opens tomorrow night."

"Believe me," Tommy said, holding up his hands briefly. "I would much rather be doing that."

"So, what is it that I should be watching?" Oliver asked, looking to Diggle and Felicity.

"This was taken at that strip joint, Alley Cats, in the Glades," Diggle nodded to one of the monitors.

Oliver bent slightly and watched the security tape. "Helena," he recognized her instantly. He crossed his arms as he straightened, "Who's the stiff?"

"His name is Gus Sabatoni," Felicity answered. "He was Frank Bertinelli's attorney."

"Why would se go after him, now, after all this time?" Oliver questioned in confusion.

"Come on, Oliver, we knew this was just a matter of time." Diggle disputed truthfully. "You tried to help her and you couldn't. The question now is how long before she drops a dime on you, us, and this whole operation?"

"You're right, we need to take precautions." Oliver took a thoughtful breath, "Okay. I want you to get in touch with our contact in the Bratva." He told Diggle. "Talk to anyone on the street, figure out why Helena’s back.

"OK, but, Oliver--"

"Don't bother; it's obvious. She wants to finish the job. What else could it be, Oliver?" Tommy stated obviously. "You stopped her the first time and her father got taken into FBI custody. That was the last thing she wanted. She's licked her wounds and maybe now she thinks it time she put an ending to her crusade."

"Her dad is serving consecutive life sentences," Oliver contradicted firmly. "She'd never get to him."

"Speaking of father's who should be in prison..." Felicity said awkwardly, using that as her cue to switch the topic onto something else more uncomfortable.

Oliver's gaze instantly went to his friend as Tommy stood from the edge of the desk and went across the lair. He unrolled his soft kit and pulled out his throwing knives in a collection in his left hand.

"Your psycho ex-girlfriend isn't the only arrow-wielding freak back in the city," Diggle said drily. "The Dark Archer."

"Dad's back in action," Tommy said bitterly. "He was released from the hospital just yesterday and already there's a body!" he threw a knife in punctuation, and the blade stuck satisfyingly into the board.

"What happened exactly?" he looked at the pair as Tommy continued to throw his knives.

"I set up a key-word search algorithm for the Darck Archer a while back," Felicity explained from her computer chair. "But he's been silent since Christmas—until now." She turned to the keyboard and brought up some pictures. "I got an alert from a police report from a few hours ago, a body was found with a black arrow sticking out of it." She tapped the screen. "Definitely our Dark Archer friend-- I mean enemy--" She cringed, "Or--"

"Felicity," Oliver stopped the babble with a brief touch to her shoulder. "Who is he?"

"Right. Um," she gave her head a little shake and spoke above the clatter and thunk of Tommy's throwing knives. "His name was Frank Chen. He was a wealthy and prominent businessman."

Oliver only looked confused. "Why would the..." he shot a glance back at Tommy, "Other archer want to kill Chen?"

Felicity looked uncomfortable. "Tempest."

"What's Tempest?"

Felicity inhaled and straightened her shoulders at the subtle nod from Diggle. "The 2.6 million that Walter had me track, your mother had said that she lost it in a failed investment three years ago, but she really used it to set up an offshore LLC under the name Tempest. The only activity that I could dig up on it, was in 2009, the purchase of that warehouse I gave you when I handed over all that information I got for Walter before he disappeared." She held her breath as she waited for his response.

Oliver's lips compressed, his hands white-knuckling around the crooks of his elbows at his crossed arms. There wasn't even the silence for him to think, just the racket behind. "Tommy." Whether the man heard him or not, he showed no indication. "Tommy!" the former scion wasn't even practicing, there was no control or calm in his stance or throws, it was just anger. Aggravated himself, Oliver grabbed a stray flechette from the table and threw it.

It struck Tommy's knife it midair, sending it flipping through the air in a diverted direction, imbedding itself through the material of the hanging punching bag by the workout mat; the flechette stuck itself middle the bull’s-eye.

"What the hell, Oliver!" Tommy spun around, his eyes briefly manic as he breathed heavily.

"That's not helping anyone," Oliver pointed at the target, "Least of all yourself. You're angry? Want to hit something? _Someone?_ I'm right here," he thumped his chest. "Just say the word." He stepped around the table and onto the mat.

"I'm not going to hit you, Oliver." Tommy told him clearly. "I know you're upset about Moira--"

Oliver let out a harsh-sounding bark of laughter. "My mother might be shady, but your father is a downright killer." He poked his friend in the chest.

"Oliver, that's enough!" Felicity leapt to her feet, outraged.

Tommy's hands fisted at his sides. "I know what you're trying to do, Oliver. I'm not going to hit you. That isn't going to help either of us." He took a deep breath, unclenching his fists. "My father's a killer, your parents are conspirators. We are not our parents." He put a hand on Oliver's shoulder, but the blond shrugged out from under it. Turned and left through the side entrance.

"Shouldn't we stop him?" Felicity asked.

"He needs space," Diggle said.

Tommy heaved a sigh, scrubbed a hand through his hair. "He's still having a hard time coming to terms with Moira's involvement." He started to pick up his knives. "I had the advantage over Oliver of always suspecting, knowing deep down. The rug was yanked out from under him both times. It also isn't helping with Helena back in down stirring up trouble and old feelings." He rolled up the kit.

"Tommy?"

Tommy was surprised to feel Felicity's warm hand on his arm, not even noticing that she had moved as he packed away the knives. He gave her a small smile. "I'm alright, Felicity, as one can be when they find out their father is a trained killer and appears to be responsible for the disappearance of his best-friend's step-dad, anyway. All this assuming that I'm actually right; we don't actually have _proof_ that he's the Dar Archer, just what I saw for a split second in a stressful situation."

"You wouldn't have said anything if you weren't sure, Merlyn." Diggle said.

"A guy can dream out of his league." He gave Felicity's arm a gentle squeeze. "I have to go. There's still so much to do before tomorrow night."

**A**

Oliver had been avoiding him since confrontation in the lair, but he was at Verdant’s opening night. Tommy took that as a win, even if he knew that it was only for appearance’s sake. He'd only seen his best-friend briefly when he'd joined the Queens for a celebration toast for a successful business, before he was to the wind again.

Tommy was too busy being a manager right now, making sure the alcohol kept flowing, the plumbing kept in working order, etc. to try and corner his friends. But hours later, at the right moment of reprieve in duties, a staffer slipped him a note from 'Mr Queen' asking him into the basement. Tommy gladly took it.

 _You couldn't text me yourself, you had to send a note through a third party? LOL. Should I be worried?_ Tommy texted Oliver as he walked down the back hall. He keyed the lock pad and opened the door—just as a breath purred against his ear: "I'm baack, pet." And there was a pressure on his back. He could only think _shit!_ before he was headed down the grate stairs into the darkened lair.

**...**

"Let him go!"

Tommy woke from unconscious with loud voices and a sharp zapping pain that was thicker than the rest of the ache in his body, in his wrist through shoulder. His arm twisted behind his back, the limb at an impossible vertical angle against the horizontal of his chest flat against the tabletop. He immediately tried to buck back against her, but she had good leverage and she used it. He grunted in pain, instantly backing off.

"I told you, Oliver." Helena said. "I warned you."

"This isn't you!" Oliver persisted.

"My father is a mobster and a murderer." She seethed, squeezing Tommy twisted wrist. "It's not like you haven't killed men for less."

"I kill because I have to, not because I want to." Oliver retorted. "I've tried to teach you to obtain your objective without killing. I've seen you do it, Helena. This isn't you--"

"This _is_ me." She applied pressure on her subject and he groaned in agony. "One thing that you did teach, that I took to well—by applying leverage, by exploiting someone's weakness..." the rest didn't need to be spelled out as she cranked Tommy's arm and he cried out. "I'll start with your little pet here, and then work my way up from there."

"Don't listen to her, Oliver!" Tommy ground through clenched teeth.

She shifted her hold in response. "Don't make me do something that you will regret, Ollie."

And then something snapped. Tommy couldn't help the scream; his vision went white and his ears rung. The pain was so hot and hard in his wrist, through his fingers, that he let out an involuntary sob.

"Okay! Okay! I-- you win! I'll help you. Now let him go. Let him go!" Oliver shouted an arm reached out, breathing heavily.

"Good." Helena smiled and released Tommy.

Tommy whimpered. He was forced to gather himself faster than he was ready for and quickly moved away from Helena, arm cradled to his chest, moving in Oliver's direction but consciously leaving the two crusaders with a clear view of each other across the table.

"I'll call you," she murmured, smirking. She threw a wink at Oliver and disappeared.

"Why'd you let her get away?" Tommy demanded, his face beaded with sweat. "Why did you agree to help her?"

"I had no choice, Tommy. She was going to kill you!"

Tommy shook his head in frustration. "Why didn't you--" _put her down?_ he wanted to say. But he looked at Oliver and felt pity for the first in his life towards his best-friend; it was an angry pity. "What is it going to take, Oliver, for you to realize that there's no humanity left in that woman? She has her need for revenge and room for nothing else. You can't save her! You can't! There is nothing left to save, if there ever was. Oliver!"

"We need to get you to the ER." Oliver said instead. "Come on, I'll call Diggle."

"Call Diggle." Tommy nodded. "He can take me, but you're staying here."

"Of course I'm going to go with you." Oliver protested. "You're hurt, Tommy. It's my fault."

"You need to stay here, Oliver. Keep after the club, for appearances. And you need to get your head on straight." _Before it's too late._

**RR**

"Hey," Tommy said as he spotted her coming from the back hall.

"Frak!" Felicity gasped, hand pressed to her chest. "Don't do that. You scared me!" she adjusted her glasses.

"Sorry." He gave her a sheepish grin. "Where you off to?"

"QC." She gestured with her cell. "Apparently something's wrong with the mainframe and it needs my immediate attention. No rest for the wicked. Not that I'm wicked, I am a nice person."

"Too nice a person to be hanging around with us lowlifes." He teased.

"I don't know... I think I've got one grey bone in my body at least." She winked. Then blushed.

Tommy gave her a smile, but turned solemn. "Helena's on the prowl. I'll go with you."

"Tommy, the club--"

"You're more important than the club, Felicity. She already got to me." He gestured the hard cast around his broken wrist. When everyone asked after the scrapes, bruises and cast, he told them he fell down the stair at the club; it wasn't really a lie. "I won't let her get to you. Okay?"

She looked at him for a moment, her eyes soft. "Okay." She said softly.

**...**

"Sorry it took so long," Tommy said, walking into the IT office, holding both mug handles in his right hand, his eye on them, careful not to spill them. "That espresso/coffee machine is insane. I think I'll make tea next time." He looked up when he got no response from the blond, and found her at her desk, sitting ramrod straight and a frightened look on her face. "Shit," he realized—they were no longer alone. He knew it as surely as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

"Hello, puppet." Helena said behind him and he felt a sharp point at his back. "Did you miss me?"

Tommy threw the steaming black coffee back over his shoulder and into her face instead, quickly following through with a sharp elbow. Felicity let out a little scream as the crossbow triggered and the bolt embedded into the computer monitor, making sparks fly. But Tommy didn't stop, couldn't stop, and he was following the elbow through with a roundhouse of his casted hand when she took out his leg. He dropped to his back and before he could roll, she power-drived an elbow into his solar plexus, blowing him away. He gave an explosive groan, arms circling his middle.

"Sweet dreams, pet." And she put heel to temple with a cry from Felicity leading him into darkness.

**...**

He moaned, his head giving a toss on the cold floor.

"Tommy!" Felicity whimpered.

Tommy's eyes shot open and he sat up with a pained grunt, casted arm around his middle, his other at his head. He quickly looked around; Helena was gone. "Felicity?"

"Under here." Felicity said.

"Hang on." Tommy quickly crawled around the desk and found Felicity bound under it, her hands behind her back, bound in computer cords and her feet. He quickly pulled out a dagger and cut the cords.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he pulled her out from under the desk and pulled her computer chair over to sit in. "Did she hurt you?" his voice was gruff, he brushed the hair from her face.

"I'm okay," she whispered, sniffing and rubbing her nose with her wrist.

He gently took hold of her face, searching her eyes. His thumb brushed feather-light at the edge of her bruised cheek. "She hit you."

She took hold of his healthy wrist. "It's fine. It's nothing. That's not important right now." She shook her head. "Helena wanted the location of her father's safe house; she made me hack the FBI database. What are we going to do, Tommy?"

"It's going to be okay." Tommy tried to think fast. "Are you sure you're going to be fine?" he pressed and she nodded. "Here's what you're going to do... you're gonna call Oliver and give him the safe house location. And Diggle's going to come and get you." He started to pull away.

"Wait. What?" she tightened her grip on his wrist. "Why would Diggle come when you're here?"

"You're going to be okay." He handed Felicity her glasses, the only thing that appeared unscathed from the encounter. "I'll make sure she'll never be able to touch you again." He pressed his lips briefly to her forehead, inhaling deeply, before he pulled from her grasp.

"Tommy--!" she rose halfway out of her chair, but he was already out the door.

"Call Oliver!" he called.

Dropping back into the chair, she picked up her desk phone and quickly dialled Oliver.

**...**

"That was pathetic, _Hood._ " Helena snapped the green fledging arrow like it was a twig, and it was after she'd just snatched it from the air. "You couldn't kill me, if that show was anything to go by." She tossed the broken arrow. "You're not a murderer, remember? But _I_ don't have that problem."

And Oliver stared down the barrel of the Marshall's stolen shotgun—and his death. He was still, focussed. Helena suddenly gave an uncoordinated jerk, the report was loud the muzzle flash of the shotgun bright in the night. He waited for the pain, for death—but there was none. He was jolted from his internal revelations when multiple gunshots followed it. Oliver watched as Helena dropped to the ground with a single chocked grunt, still. A dark knife handle gleamed from where it stuck out the back of her shoulder.

A shadow moved beyond her fallen body and Oliver's bow was up, arrow nocked in an instant—and it dropped accordingly as the ghostly pale face was revealed in the moonlight, gun in hand. "Tommy?" he whispered in horrified denial.

**OW**

Tommy took the best bottle of Scotch from the shelf behind the bar and two tumblers. He set them on the table and poured each glass, setting the bottle down as he pushed one glass across to his silent friend before he sat himself. "Drink," he said, downing his own before refilling. He knew his doctor wouldn't approve of him mixing alcohol with his pain meds, but he really needed it right now. And he wasn't the only one. But Oliver hadn't budged an inch. "Oliver," he said seriously. "Drink that, now. We both need it."

Oliver rose his hand, gaze still down and rested it on the lighted tabletop next to the tumbler, fingertips pressed against the glass but made no move to drink it just yet. "It's my fault," he whispered in a broken tone. "I let her get away one too many times..."

"Hey," Tommy reached across the table with his right hand and tapped the side of the tumbler with his fingernail, making it ding dully. "I need you to drink up, buddy."

Oliver's breath shuddered. "And so I took your hands," he grabbed Tommy right hand with his left, squeezing. "And I made them bloody with my own failures!"

"Hey, look at me, Oliver!" Tommy said sharply. He reversed his grip when Oliver tried to reclaim his hand. "I saved your life! If I hadn't been there, you'd be dead and I would be standing at your funeral for a second time!" Oliver finally looked up, meeting his eyes with his own filled with such devastation and shame that it took Tommy's breath away, but he forced himself to go on. "Is that what you want?"

"If it saved you from this?" Oliver shouted, "Yes!" He stood, trying to pull his hand free, but Tommy refused and jerked his arm right back.

"Am I tainted now? Is my soul corrupt?" he didn't relent, "Is this the thing that broke the camel's back? Are you going to turn your back on me, Oliver." He paused and finished softly with: "Am I a monster now, like my father?"

"No!" Oliver said immediately, vociferously. "No, you're not. You're nothing like Malcolm, don't _ever_ think that!"

"This hand, right here," he nodded at their gripping hands, "Killed someone tonight." Diggle had been teaching him to disarm someone with a gun, but he'd also been teaching Tommy to shoot one as well. He took Tommy to the Shooting Range, made sure he could disassemble and reassemble his weapon like a soldier before he even allowed the club manager to shoot. And now they knew he could; it was field-tested. "Not because I wanted to, but because I couldn't stand what it would do to you if you had to. She might not have cared about you, but I know you cared about her and it would have killed another piece of you. Helena had gone too far, she'd hurt too many people..."

"Tommy..." Oliver swallowed and shook his head. "None of that should have mattered. I thought that I could save her, changer her. I think I just saw myself in her, it what I would have been if I didn't have you, and Diggle, Felicity. Mom, and Thea. If I didn't have all of you in my corner like Helena had no one. And I thought that if I could save her, then I knew there was a chance on me."

"You're a good person, Oliver. You aren't Helena. I always joke about being your moral compass in this crusade," Tommy admitted. "But tonight, my arrow was pointing right at her. There was no other way that this night could have gone. You have to believe that and stop doubting yourself." Tommy finally released his hand and picked up his untouched tumbler, holding it out to the blond. "Now drink with me, Oliver. Alcohol might not solve our life's problems, but right now, it sure as hell can't hurt it."

Taking a deep breath, Oliver gave a solemn nod and finally took the tumbler from his best-friend. "To the heart of Tommy Merlyn," he held the glass out.

Tommy picked up his own tumbler and pressed it against Oliver's, locking eyes with the man, "And to the soul of Oliver Queen." And they drank.

_f_

**aRROW**

　

* * *

 

**P.S: The below is an AU piece of this chapter if Tommy hadn't said "I THINK MY DAD'S THE DARK ARCHER" at the end of the last chapter:**

 

**_ Oliver stopped as he saw the three of them hanging around the computer hub. His brow flickered in amusement. "Why do I feel like I'm walking into some kind of intervention?" _ **

**_ "Maybe you should sit down?" Felicity suggested. _ **

**_ "Felicity!" Tommy hissed. _ **

**_ "What? I don't know what I'm supposed to do in a situation like this." She defended. "And he's kind of right, isn't he?" _ **

**_ Oliver crossed his arms. "Someone want to tell me what's going on? _ **

**_ Tommy and Felicity both looked to Diggle. _ **

**_ Diggle rolled his eyes. "There's something you should see." He nodded at the screen. _ **

**_ Oliver approached. "What is it?" _ **

**_ "Felicity?" Diggle said. Felicity played the security tape. _ **

**_ "Helena," Oliver uttered. _ **

**_ "Shee's baack!" Tommy said in a creepy voice. _ **

**_ Felicity smacked at him. "Don't do that." _ **

**_ "What? I thought it was rather appropriate." Tommy help up his hands. "The bitch is back just like Diggle predicted and she's already killed someone." _ **

**_ "Or your psycho ex-girlfriend as I like to call her." Diggle said. "The police report lists him as Gus Sabatoni. Ring any bells?" _ **

**_ Oliver's brow furrowed. "Bertinelli's lawyer. Why would she come back after all this time for him?" _ **

**_ "We knew this wasn't going to be a question of if, it was when, and the time is now." Tommy said. "No doubt she's still after her dad; she's taking her second shot. _ **

**_ "The only question now is... when is she going to drop a dime on you, us, this whole operation." Diggle waved a hand. _ **

**_ Oliver inhaled deeply. "Ok. I want you to get a hold of our Bratva contact; talk to anyone on the street, figure out where she is." He turned. _ **

**_ "Oliver," Diggle stood. "That's not all." _ **

**_ Oliver stopped and turned back. "What more is there?" _ **

**_ "Helena's not the only arrow-wielding maniac back in town." Tommy uttered. _ **

**_ "I picked up a police report, using key phrases," Felicity said. "A body was found this morning with a black arrow sticking out of it. Frank Chen; I've just started doing background, but so far he's come back clean." She brought up a photo. _ **

**_ "Why would The Dark Archer want to kill him?" Oliver wondered. "The only times that we know of that he's made an appearance have had to do with the list. But I don't remember seeing Chen's name marked down." _ **

**_ "Doesn't mean it doesn't involve him," Diggle reminded. _ **

**_ "Isn't he friends with Moira." Tommy said quietly. _ **

**_ "What?" _ **

**_ "I saw him at the house once," he nodded at the picture. "It was like a week ago. I was running late and I saw them go into the drawing room as I was coming down the stairs. I don't even think they saw me." _ **

**_ Oliver took a deep controlled breath. "Just because he knew my mother--" _ **

**_ "He's right," Felicity blurted. _ **

**_ "What?" Oliver demanded. _ **

**_ "That warehouse that your mother purchased through offshore holding company Tempest," she continued to type, "Frank Chen comes up in connection." _ **

**_ Oliver inhaled harshly, probably trying to prevent the angry lash out when Tommy finally whispered the thought that had been haunting him ever since the assassination attempt on his father. The glimpse he had caught before his father was shot. "I think my dad's The Dark Archer." _ **

**_ "What?" Felicity blurted in surprise next to him. "That's not even funny, Tommy." _ **

**_ "I'm not joking." Tommy stood, stepping away from the hub and oppressing stares. "A couple nights ago at the Humanitarian Ceremony, when we were locked up in the penthouse, just before Deadshot shot through the window... I saw-- I don't know, The Hood's evil twin. A dark hood. It was only for a second, I--" he shook his head and waved his arm. "He knew how to fight. Like you, Oliver. He killed those two Triad members that stopped us. That gunshot you heard... that was him." _ **

**_ Diggle and Felicity were silent, glances darting between the two best-friends—waiting with bated breath. _ **

**_ Oliver's fists were clenched at his sides. "What were you thinking? How could you keep this to yourself for two days, Tommy!" his outburst fuelled by his own anger. _ **

**_ "Are you kidding me?" Tommy spun on him, incredulous. "You flipped out if we even said Moira's name in the same sentence as the list. That's innocent compared to this! My dad--" he palmed his mouth, hard-pressed to get the words out. "I called it, didn't I? Best birthday ever!" he shouted sarcastically. "What I always suspected, feared, is true. My own father is a psycho, killer, evil man. He almost killed you, Oliver. He kidnapped Walter. For all we really know, he wrote this goddamned list!" he picked up the notebook and tossed it across the basement. Unshed tears burned his eyes. _ **

**_ "Tommy, this is big." Oliver said levelly through a clenched jaw. "This is not something that you just keep to yourself, assumption or not. We needed to know. Just because he's your father--" _ **

**_ "That's pretty funny coming from a hypocrite like you, only nobody is laughing!" He breathed hard. "I have to go. Opening night is tomorrow and there's still a million things I still have to do." He was already up the stairs before anyone could stop him. "It needs to be perfect." _ **

**_ "Aren't you going to go after him?" Felicity demanded of Oliver. _ **

**_ "No, he needs some air and I need to think." _ **

**_ X _ **

**_ Tommy had been avoiding Oliver, like the plague and Diggle and Felicity like they were cohorts of the plague. As his father had nearly been assassinated, not to mention his assumed "night-dentity", he had been a little distracted the past four days and had neglected his duty as general manager of Verdant. _ **

**_ It was a childish move in such a serious matter, but nobody ever made a How To when you found out your father was your best-friend's arch nemesis—he was playing it by ear. But despite his best to avoid, Team Hood could have had the courtesy to have warned him that Helena had already made contact with Oliver the day of opening. So on the night, when the opening was in full swing and the house packed, - - - - - - - _ **

**_ x _ **

~~**__ ** ~~

~~**__ ** ~~

**Author's Note:**

> I realized after I started on the next episode, that I was getting a little ahead of myself with this one. Like in the beginning chunk with Frank Chen, who I now realize was (spoiler) killed in "Salvation" not "The Huntress Returns", I apologize but it's already woven into this chapter and I have made the executive decision to leave it. That leaves the topic in the next paragraph; I think that I can do something with it in the next chapter now, since it spreads over the two episodes.  
> I did have the want to have Laurel confide in Tommy about her parents' belief that Sara was still alive and question Oliver about it [like XXX had suggested in a review], but I got distracted with the Helena-plotline and ended up with no room for those plot-seeds to grow and flourish in the already drama and angst rich soil.
> 
>  **DELETED TEXT:**  
>  "I'm okay as one can be when they find out their father is a killer."  
> ...  
> Oliver finally looked up, meeting his eyes with his own filled with such devastation and shame that it took Tommy's breath away, but he forced himself to go on.  
> ...  
> "Oliver, I think we should accept that neither of our parents are perfect, but making up for that lack of perfection should not define who we are. Your mother may be involved, but I don't believe that she'd entirely complicit in "The Undertaking" — and I'm not just saying that to save your feelings.  
> "Do you remember that tape that Diggle recorded of her and that distorted voice a bit back? She didn't sound entirely into it to me. Maybe you were just too focused on the fact that she was involved in something and she knew that The Queen's Gambit was sabotaged. But that other voice was pretty scary and I have a feeling we both know who it belonged to."  
> x


End file.
